Fallen Angel
by Starzangel
Summary: Daniel returns. A story inspired by 'Full Circle' loosely based on the start of season 7. COMPLETE
1. Prelude

FALLEN ANGEL

Starzangel

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Title: Fallen Angel

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Author: Starzangel

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Disclaimer: Sadly, none of _Stargate SG-1_ is mine. I only borrowed the concept and characters to have fun (but gain no profit) writing this story, which _is_ mine.

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Archive: If you're not FanFic.Net, then please ask first via submitting a review (leave your email address & I'll get back to you).

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Note: This story is set at the start of season 7. That is, not _the_ season 7, but _my_ season 7, which I created before reading many spoilers – i.e. I'd seen 'Full Circle' and knew Daniel was coming back, but not much else.

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Stargate SG-1:

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Fallen Angel

By

Starzangel

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Prelude:

Punishment

Behind oval wire-rimmed lenses two bright blue eyes blinked, startled by blinding sunlight.

Gradually further sensations seeped through the heavy fog in his brain. The warm breeze passing though his short hair, the regular beating of his heart pushing blood around his body, the firmness of concrete paving under the soles of his shoes, the smell of dry earth, sweet grass and the tang of petrol-based fumes, the whispering of tree branches and the distant roar of fast traffic.

He was Human again.

The form that was once all he knew had comfortable familiarity, yet at the same time he felt stripped. He felt the saliva from his mouth push down his throat as he swallowed.

The power was gone. 

He was no longer in touch with the higher-plane, he was…unenlightened? Was that possible? Questions began to form in his mind as it began to function and speed up its pace, processing with rational thought.

The burr of a vehicle engine drifted through his ears, growing rapidly louder. Watering eyes widened as they suddenly snapped into focus. He was stood in the middle of a road, – Chesterfield Avenue, Colorado Springs, Earth – there was a mailbox on the corner, a ginger cat sat on a low brick wall, a white van moving at 40mph heading his way.

Oh God.

He suddenly realised how weak and frail he felt, as the sound of screeching brakes seared through his ears. Without realising he'd been walking, he abruptly stopped. His eyes stared, wide and full of fear.

A strong force barrelled into his side.

He was knocked off his feet and tossed up onto the bonnet. Too late the van finally skidded to a halt, as he limply slid down and rolled across the tarmac.

Tiny shards of glass tinkled against each other, catching the rays of the sun, spinning on their descent to the ground. Hitting the road they bounced, rotating until eventually laying still.

Daniel Jackson's eyes slowly closed.


	2. Prologue & Part One

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Fallen Angel

"I'm not sure that we can count on Daniel for anything anymore."

– Carter, 'Full Circle'.

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Prologue

At 16:42 a telephone rang deep within Cheyenne Mountain.

"Hammond."

There was a pause as the general listened intently, his grip tightening on the black receiver.

"I'll send someone right away," he responded and put down the hand-piece.

George Hammond crossed his office quickly and yanked open the door.

"Get Dr Fraiser and SG-1 up here immediately," the general ordered his secretary.

The efficient lieutenant noticed her commander's urgent manner and obeyed his instruction at once.

At 16:56 Dr Janet Fraiser, Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, Teal'c and Jonas Quinn stood assembled in the general's office awaiting his announcement.

Hammond took a deep breath and then broke the news.

"It appears that Dr Jackson has been found."

Eyes widened and muscles tensed all around, but no one spoke. They waited for the general to continue.

"Major Davis was visiting a relative in Colorado Springs County Hospital when a man he recognised as Daniel Jackson was brought onto the ward," he told them. "After making inquires he discovered that the patient was an unidentified causality of a road accident in Colorado Springs earlier this morning. The man is at present unconscious, but the major swears that it is Dr Jackson."

"Request permission to – " O'Neill began.

"I'm releasing you to take a trip to the hospital," Hammond said, cutting off the predictable request.

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Part One

Three men and a woman dressed in civilian clothes quickly ascended the steps leading up to the visitors' entrance of Colorado Springs County Hospital, a female doctor hurrying after them.

In the lobby a dark-haired man, also in civilian clothes, met the man at the head of the group half way to the reception desk.

"Colonel."

"Davis, where is he?" Jack O'Neill asked at once.

"This way." Major Davis led the anxious members of SG-1 and Dr Fraiser towards the lifts.

Five minutes later the group was walking onto the intensive care ward.

"Jack!" A cry of relief came from the far side of the room.

"Daniel?"

"Do you know this man?" a harassed doctor cried.

The white-coated man was aiding two nurses to hold down the unwilling patient in question.

"Yes," O'Neill replied, as he and the others hurried across the room.

Seeing familiar faces in front of him, the patient stilled much to the breathless doctor and nurses' relief.

A white hand shot out and gripped the colonel's arm.

"Jack!"

O'Neill placed a comforting hand over his friend's.

"We can take it from here," Dr Fraiser told the hospital's doctor, picking up the patient's notes. "Thank you for your help."

"Excuse me, who are you?" the other doctor demanded to know.

"Dr Janet Fraiser, US Air Force." Fraiser held up her ID and shook the doctor's hand. "I'm this man's doctor."

"Dr Jenkins," the county doctor introduced himself. He turned to his nurses and dismissed them with thanks and a smile.

While Janet led Dr Jenkins out of earshot and engaged him in a conversation about Daniel's condition, SG-1 surrounded the hospital bed and looked closely at the patient who lay there.

Dr Daniel Jackson was stripped to the waist with most of his torso wrapped in white bandages and wires led from his chest to a monitor beside the bed. His pale complexion was only coloured by a thin red gash on his forehead and a purple-blue bruise on the left side of his chin. The side of one bare forearm was badly scratched telling a story of being scrapped along tarmac and little cuts marked him from being showered with glass fragments.

"Daniel, what happened?" Jack asked, softly.

"I-I'm not sure," Daniel stammered, his blue eyes showing the remains of shock.

He struggled to pull his thoughts and memories together. "The others, the Ancients, wouldn't let me destroy Anubis. They were furious with me for intervening with what they said did not concern me. There was trial and they concluded that I was a dangerous outsider, a loose cannon, who must be stopped. I was to be punished for my actions.

"The next thing I remember, is finding myself stood on a path in a street. I felt weak and dazed. It took me a while to realise I was Human again, during which time I must have wandered into the road, for suddenly I saw a van coming straight for me. I can recall being hit and falling to the ground and then nothing more…until I woke up here just before you arrived."

Jack squeezed Daniel's hand, supportively.

"It's ok, Daniel," he said, looking into his friend's terrified eyes. "You're safe now."

The two doctors came back over to the bed. Fraiser smiled down at Daniel, her eyes wet with the happiness that came with seeing him again, and altered the speed of his intravenous drip slightly.

SG-1 watched her, anxious to be told of their friend's medical condition.

"Daniel's going to be just fine," she assured them. "A few broken ribs and a concussion. He's been lucky." Janet looked down at him with mock-irritation and added, "Again."

Sam lent forward and tenderly wiped a stray strand of brown hair off Daniel's pale forehead.

"I missed you, Daniel."

"I missed you too."

"Did you?" There was something dark in her tone and she drew back away from him.

Her sick friend frowned with confusion. "Yes, of course I did."

"It is good to have you back with us, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said.

Daniel smiled and nodded. 

"Da – Dr Jackson, I…" Jonas felt out of place and glanced around nervously. "Get well soon." He hastily stepped back and stared out of the window, biting his thumbnail.

"Thank you, Jonas," Daniel said. "It'll be nice to get to know you."

Jonas looked back, pleasantly surprised. "A-and you."


	3. Part Two

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Part Two

Daniel's hospital bed was curtained off in an attempt by the medical staff to encourage him to rest. Visitors were, by order of his doctors (the hospital's Dr Jenkins, and Dr Fraiser), reduced to a maximum of one at a time.

Teal'c and Jack waited outside, Jonas had disappeared off somewhere, and Janet was busy sorting out a transference for Daniel from the public hospital to the SGC infirmary. Sam was Daniel's current visitor, sat in the plastic chair at his bedside.

"How are you feeling, Daniel?"

Sam's words were gentle enough and her expression suitably concerned, but Daniel sensed some inexplicable hostility. He'd noticed it earlier too. Her manner seemed to indicate that he had done something wrong, that he'd offended and hurt her somehow. He searched her face for answers, but all he saw were her eyes staring at him with relentless anger pasted over with genuine but thin worry for his wellbeing. He decided to not leap blindly into the deep end, feeling too weak to swim in such choppy waters as he saw in his friend's emotions. Instead, he would act normal and see if she gave any hint to what was bothering her.

Daniel gave Sam a wan smile.

"I'm finding it hard to take everything in. It feels weird being Human again," he grimaced looking down at his bandaged ribs, "and it's painful."

"Poor you," Carter said, with uncharacteristic biting sarcasm. "I guess you'll have to stick around now."

She ignored Daniel's shocked and hurt expression.

"I'll drop by again later, if I'm not busy off doing things of greater importance," she told him, icily, suddenly standing up.

"Sam?" Daniel called after her frostily turned back, his voice weak and pleading.

Carter didn't turn around. Instead she continued to stride away and drew the curtain shut behind her.

"Sam!" Daniel cried to no avail.

"Major, what's wrong with you?" O'Neill demanded. 

Through the blue curtain that separated him from the rest of the world, Daniel saw the outline of the colonel step in front of Carter, obstructing her path.

"Jack, get out of my way." 

She tried to brush past him, but Teal'c moved to block her escape.

"Carter, you're not leaving until you tell us what's up," O'Neill stated, angrily.

She sighed, clearly irritated.

"I don't know what you mean."

Jack perched on the end of an empty bed and indicated firmly to the seat beside it. Reluctantly, Sam sat down. She crossed her legs and nervously twisted the end of her jumper with her fingers. Teal'c stood imposingly off to one side.

"I think you do, Sam," Jack said, trying to soften his tone. "We finally get Daniel back, but instead of welcoming him with open arms, you're snapping at the poor guy. He's lying in a hospital bed, damn it. He nearly died. Again!"

"I know…" Sam whispered, regretfully. "It's just…Oh! Sir, I'm sorry!"

"It isn't me you should be apologising to."

"I didn't mean to say those things to him. I…it's difficult to explain…I think I'm angry with him."

"Why?" Jack's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"He…left us," she explained, shame filling her face. "He ascended into a so-called higher being and…forgot about me. He never came to visit me…unlike you and Teal'c…"

Jack frowned. "He couldn't interfere with us, you know that. See for yourself what trying to help others has done to him," he said, pointing in the direction of Daniel's bed.

"But…"

"I only saw him when I was tortured by Ba'al."

"Oh," Sam mumbled, and looked down in shame.

"And Daniel Jackson only appeared to me while I was sharing my symbiote with Bra'tac," Teal'c put in.

Carter swallowed against the pressure guilt clasped on her throat.

Hidden behind the curtain, Daniel tried to sit up. However, his desperation to speak to Sam was thwarted by the extreme weakness of his bruised body. Breathing hard, Daniel admitted defeat and sunk exhausted against the pillows. He closed his eyes to shut out his spinning vision.

The sound of metal rungs scrapping along the curtain rail brought his eyes snapping open. He gradually managed to focus on the figure that softly stepped forward to stand beside him.

"Sam…"

"Daniel, I'm sorry!" She clutched at his frail hand, a tear sliding down her cheek. "I'm so sorry."

"Didn't you know I was there?" Daniel asked her, his forehead troubled. "When you were alone, didn't you feel me with you?"

"Yes," Sam admitted, softly, meeting his blue eyes with her own. "But I was afraid to believe it was really you."

"I wouldn't leave you, Sam."

"I know," she told him. "In my heart, I always knew."

~ End ~


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